Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I have been
painting watercolors for the best part of fifty years, and I have learned a
thing or two from the great masters of the medium, like Sargent, Homer and
Eakins.

I have also
learned from contemporary and modern artists.

Here are a
couple of maxims I try to keep in mind when I work:

Don't use
too much water. It weakens the color.

Initial
washes have to be ( often) greatly diluted when painting the figure or
portraits. But from that stage of the painting forward, try to use as little
water as possible. Avoid "watercolor anemia."

Let initial
washes dry thoroughly. Then they can be worked over with relative impunity.

I always
paint with a paper towel in my left hand. Many grievous mistakes can be erased
in a few seconds, and washes can be lessened in their density without diluting
with water over much.

Try using
gum arabic mixed with your watercolor paint sometime. You can buy gum arabic at
your art store, or online from DANIEL SMITH ART MATERIALS and other outlets.
I'm not a Smith salesman, of course, but their watercolors ( which they
manufacture themselves) are excellent and so are their other watercolor
materials.

I often
paint with no underdrawing at all, so that I am free to adjust shapes and forms
as I go.

I try to
make all my portraits and figures in two passes ( occasionally three), each
about an hour long. This means I paint pretty fast.

Then they
dry overnight. In the morning, when I'm seeing clearly and not exhausted from
concentrating ( this has become more of a danger-- fatigue-- as I have aged) I
make a few adjustments or throw them away and (maybe) start over. There was a
sharp break-off at age sixty in both my eyesight and my hand-to-eye
co-ordination. But some of this can be compensated for by experience, i.e. I
feel the mistakes coming and can anticipate them.

I try to
work as spontaneously as possible. Nothing is deader than a dead watercolor
painting.

Likewise, I
try to make certain strokes that are "unanticipated" or
"uncontrolled"-- poor terms to describe what is a mysterious process
when it comes off.

I prefer the
jazz guitarist's phrase: (Tuck Andress) put this phrase on one of his albums to
describe his technique while playing, "reckless precision."

Ted Kautzky,
the Hungarian-American watercolorist and teacher, put in his oar ( or his
brush) with some Zen-like pronouncements:

Don't use
too much water.

In at least
some parts of the painting , use the color nearly straight from the tube.

Don't mix
colors overmuch.

Always
remember that some colors are sediments and some are stains.

Use the best
quality paints, paper and brushes you can.

Stop when
you feel you are 80 percent finished.

Don't
fiddle. Be decisive and let it stand. If it doesn't work, scrub it out or throw
it away, No "in-between" painting. Be fierce when you must.

( the last
two take the longest apprenticeship to estimate properly and judiciously).

Just some
observations that have bubbled to the surface over the years.

Writing and
painting are drastically separate arts, but maybe the words above can help
convey some of my strategies.

In "the
heat of battle" as jazz guitarist Larry Coryell says, " You don't
have time to think about notes. You just make music. " Which is to remind
his students ( and the students I used to teach) that many of the modes of
knowing and executing watercolors I have described need to be pretty deeply
ingrained and assimilated before they can be applied.

With oil, or
even acrylic ( nowadays with the longer "open" time some acrylic
brands provide you) you can put down a stroke or paint an area , stop, and
contemplate what you have done for a while before going on. And you can make
unlimited changes to your painting.

But
watercolor is different, which is why it's more difficult for most painters
than oil.

Many of these
watercolor techniques can be inferred from a ( very, very) close study of the
greats, Homer, Sargent, Andy Wyeth, and his son, Jamie, who is also a
first-rate watercolorist.

An old
acquaintance of mine, JERALD SILVA, one of the most amazing and virtuosic
watercolorists I know of in America, coats his large papers with glue ( one can
also use acrylic medium) and after it has dried, paints watercolor over his
glue ground. This permits him to lift the color completely back to the white
paper at any stage and in any area of his painting. His paintings are
remarkably luminous, including his darks, and his imagination and expression
are second to none.

Here is his
web site. Take a look at his work. You may get some ideas from him. I have.

About Me

Website: http://www.repkeart.com
The colors I choose reflect my emotional response. I often mix colors wet on the canvas using a palette knife to define shapes. I am also fascinated with the effects of light defining areas of dark and light and blended grayed tones to suggest atmosphere. I develop my work by painting or sketching on site or from my own photographic references; then through contemplation, condensation, transformation and revelation the finished work emerges. I have shown in juried shows at Framations Gallery, Queeny Park, Art Walk in St. Charles, a curated show at Des Peres Hospital and ongoing representation at Grace Church and the Northside Artspace at the Regions Bank Building in Clayton. I am a member of Art Saint Louis, Missouri Watercolor Society, Northside Art Association and Artists of Grace. I graduated from the University of Missouri as an Art Education Major and have since taken workshops with Susan Sarback (the School of Light and Color), Mel Stabin and Frank Webb.